Theme · christological
Incarnation
The incarnation is anticipated in every Old Testament moment where God draws near to human experience — walking in Eden, appearing to Abraham at Mamre, dwelling in the tabernacle. Isaiah promises a child called 'God with Us.' John's prologue announces its fulfillment with cosmic weight: the Word who was with God and was God became flesh and dwelt among us. Paul adds that Christ, though in the form of God, emptied himself and took the form of a servant. The incarnation is not a temporary disguise but an eternal union of divine and human natures.
Related doctrines
Passages expressing this theme
- 1Cor 10:4 — And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.
- 1Cor 15:45 — And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
- 1John 1:1 — That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life;
- 1John 1:2 — (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;)
- 1John 5:20 — And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and
- 1Tim 2:5 — For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
- 1Tim 3:16 — And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up int
- 2Cor 3:14 — But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ.
- 2Cor 4:10 — Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.
- 2John 1:7 — For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.
- 2Tim 1:10 — But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel:
- Acts 10:38 — How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.
- Col 1:15 — Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:
- Col 2:9 — For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
- Ezek 1:26 — And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man a
- Gal 4:4 — But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
- Heb 1:3 — Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the
- Heb 2:9 — But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.
- Heb 2:11 — For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren,
- Heb 2:14 — Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil
- Heb 10:5 — Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me:
- Isa 7:14 — Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
- Isa 9:6 — For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prin
- John 1:1 — In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
- John 1:9 — That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
The Church Fathers on Incarnation
Indeed, the God of all pre-formed these things from the beginning and before the ages. Now he has brought about a conclusion to all that was decreed. The incarnation is that in which the eternity of the Son is finally manifested.
Here [Job] foreshadows the incarnation of the divine Word through the assumption of human nature. These words, in fact, appear to be addressed to the Father, as if they were said by the person [the Son] of the Lord.
That is, when the Only-begotten became incarnate and became like us.
One must be careful not to put this in a way which would blur the distinction between the creation of a man and the Incarnation of God. Could one, as a mere model, put it thus? In creation God makes—invents—a person and "utters"—injects—him into the realm of Nature. In the Incarnation, God the Son takes the body and…
(de Incarn. et cont. Ar.) For here He manifests a double will. One indeed human, which is of the flesh, the other divine. For our human nature, because of the weakness of the flesh, refuses the Passion, but His divine will eagerly embraced it, for that it was not possible that He should be holden of death.
This arrow signifies his divinity, resting in a quiver signifying the body assumed from the Virgin, in whose cloth of flesh his divinity was clothed.